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- Mar 24, 2016
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Hey, so I had a series of deaths during QT, at least one of which (most recent) was velvet.
As well as possibly some bacterial infection, and possibly Brook.
Anyway, as a result, and the help of the great team on here such as @Humblefish and @melypr1985 and the rest of the reefsquad, I've now got a hospital tank, independant from QT, and have adopted new protocols for my new purchases that should greatly reduce losses.
However, one thing I wanted to do is completely sterilize that QT system, to be sure I don't re-introduce anything at that stage. Since I'll be using the Hospital to pre-treat incoming livestock, the QT tank "should" in most cases stay free of parasites/infection, and be mostly just long-term observation before the final move to the display.
Let me first describe the QT system (as it was when we had prior deaths):
Then we tore it down completely, emptied it, and washed it down in a strong vinegar solution, including all components that touched water in any way.
We disposed of the LR that was in the QT and won't be doing that again, as it complicates things, and we disposed of the LR Rubble that we used as bio-media in the filter. We also disposed of sponges, etc from the filter.
We then stored the tank in the garage after being rinsed with more vinegar water, again due to some travel, it still had a bit of the vinegar water in the bottom of the tank when we moved it to the garage (Was not completely dry). It stayed there approx another month, the filter, etc was also stored in garage, disassembled, but not 100% dry.
We then took it out when we had a free weekend, and did a 100% washdown of everything again, in tap water, heavy scrubdown, clean it all thoroughly, disassemble all parts down to smallest bits, scrub, clean rinse, etc in tap water. Everything nice and clean, then we set it out in the sun for a whole day and it was bone dry (all parts, etc).
We also discarded the siphon tube for the filter, as we couldn't adequately ensure the inside of the "U" shape was clean, so we're replacing that with brand-new, and have bought brand new foam block, and store bought media for it.
We've taken all the bits, piled them back in the filter box, put that in the now dry tank, and stored that back on the stand in our house. Waiting for it to sit dry for some time before we re-use it.
We've also ordered a new light for it, as we plan on QTing Coral as well, meaning we need to keep that alive. Also we bought a second powerhead for it to increase flow. And we'll be using PVC pipe for "furniture" in the tank, instead of the LR we had in before.
The QT has been sitting in the house fully dry with all it's parts, after it's full washing since the weekend of June 10th (can't remember if it was Saturday or Sunday) so it will be 3 full weeks approx on July 1st.
So all that info to lead up to the real question, which is in the subject line.
How much longer should it sit fully dry to be 100% sure that nothing is left "in the tank" potentially, that might re-infect new additions?
Do we need to do another washdown of everything with bleach? (I've heard that isn't 100% required if you let it fully dry 100% for long enough).
Just wanted to confirm so we know when we can get it set back up, and then when we can potentially start looking at new additions again.
Thanks in advance for any help/input/advice offered.
As well as possibly some bacterial infection, and possibly Brook.
Anyway, as a result, and the help of the great team on here such as @Humblefish and @melypr1985 and the rest of the reefsquad, I've now got a hospital tank, independant from QT, and have adopted new protocols for my new purchases that should greatly reduce losses.
However, one thing I wanted to do is completely sterilize that QT system, to be sure I don't re-introduce anything at that stage. Since I'll be using the Hospital to pre-treat incoming livestock, the QT tank "should" in most cases stay free of parasites/infection, and be mostly just long-term observation before the final move to the display.
Let me first describe the QT system (as it was when we had prior deaths):
- 30G Long tank
- 2 large pieces of Live Rock
- Aquaclear 110 HOB Filter
- In filter running stock Foam Block
- And LR Rubble as bio media
- 1x small Hydor Koralia for additional flow
- 2 Small clip-on LED lights (just for visibility, only a QT tank)
- 150W Heater (over-rated I know, but it matches the multiple heaters I have in my display, and the one in my mixing station, so they are interchangable) Temp has always been monitored and stable in the QT when using this heater.
- Suction Thermometer for monitoring temperature (digital)
- Small Mag Float for keeping glass clear
- Magnetic Veggie Clip for feeding herbivores (last fish lost was a bristletooth tang, we were trying to get him to eat nori from the clip, before he got sick)
Then we tore it down completely, emptied it, and washed it down in a strong vinegar solution, including all components that touched water in any way.
We disposed of the LR that was in the QT and won't be doing that again, as it complicates things, and we disposed of the LR Rubble that we used as bio-media in the filter. We also disposed of sponges, etc from the filter.
We then stored the tank in the garage after being rinsed with more vinegar water, again due to some travel, it still had a bit of the vinegar water in the bottom of the tank when we moved it to the garage (Was not completely dry). It stayed there approx another month, the filter, etc was also stored in garage, disassembled, but not 100% dry.
We then took it out when we had a free weekend, and did a 100% washdown of everything again, in tap water, heavy scrubdown, clean it all thoroughly, disassemble all parts down to smallest bits, scrub, clean rinse, etc in tap water. Everything nice and clean, then we set it out in the sun for a whole day and it was bone dry (all parts, etc).
We also discarded the siphon tube for the filter, as we couldn't adequately ensure the inside of the "U" shape was clean, so we're replacing that with brand-new, and have bought brand new foam block, and store bought media for it.
We've taken all the bits, piled them back in the filter box, put that in the now dry tank, and stored that back on the stand in our house. Waiting for it to sit dry for some time before we re-use it.
We've also ordered a new light for it, as we plan on QTing Coral as well, meaning we need to keep that alive. Also we bought a second powerhead for it to increase flow. And we'll be using PVC pipe for "furniture" in the tank, instead of the LR we had in before.
The QT has been sitting in the house fully dry with all it's parts, after it's full washing since the weekend of June 10th (can't remember if it was Saturday or Sunday) so it will be 3 full weeks approx on July 1st.
So all that info to lead up to the real question, which is in the subject line.
How much longer should it sit fully dry to be 100% sure that nothing is left "in the tank" potentially, that might re-infect new additions?
Do we need to do another washdown of everything with bleach? (I've heard that isn't 100% required if you let it fully dry 100% for long enough).
Just wanted to confirm so we know when we can get it set back up, and then when we can potentially start looking at new additions again.
Thanks in advance for any help/input/advice offered.
